This invention relates to a cleaning device for cleaning a shaving head of a dry shaving apparatus, having a housing, a holding device, a cleaning liquid container, a filter, a feed device adapted to be driven by a motor and including a supply pipe leading to a cleaning basin and a liquid drain from the cleaning basin to the cleaning liquid container.
A cleaning device of the type initially referred to is known from DE 44 02 238 C2. In one embodiment of a cleaning device according to this printed specificationxe2x80x94FIG. 1xe2x80x94, a cleaning basin is provided with a connector having fitted thereto a porous hose member permeable to cleaning liquid to ensure that dirt particles do not enter the cleaning liquid container. Due to the substantial amounts of dirt particles needing to be removed from the shaving head of a dry shaving apparatus, the hose member is fouled in no time, which prevents cleaning liquid drained from the cleaning basin during the cleaning process from entering the cleaning liquid container. This results in spillage of cleaning liquid from the cleaning device. Approaches aimed at remedying the fouled condition, including in particular the removal of dirt particles, cannot be inferred from this printed specification.
In another embodiment of a cleaning device according to DE 44 02 238 C2xe2x80x94FIG. 6xe2x80x94a cleaning liquid container with integrated filter or the filterxe2x80x94FIG. 2xe2x80x94is provided in the cleaning liquid circuit between the feed device and the cleaning basin, wherein the cleaning liquid, together with the dirt particles occurring in the respective cleaning operation, is fed by the feed device from the collecting reservoir associated with the cleaning basin directly to the inner chamber of a filter, being retained by this filter. At the beginning of the cleaning operation the feed pump of the cleaning device initially aspirates air, forcing the air through the cleaning liquid container with integrated filter until the cleaning liquid present in the cleaning liquid container reaches the cleaning basin through a conduit and subsequently, through the collecting reservoir, the intake pipe of the feed pump. The continuous accumulation of dirt particles in the inner chamber of the filter presents an increasing resistance in the fluid circuit from the feed device to the cleaning basin, with the result that a feed device having a higher load-carrying capacity and hence incurring greater expense needs to be provided.
It is an object of the present invention to improve a cleaning device of the type initially referred to.
According to the present invention, this object is accomplished in a cleaning device of the type initially referred to with the following features. The cleaning device for cleaning a shaving head of a dry shaving apparatus, includes a housing having a cleaning basin and a holding device, an exchangeable cleaning liquid container containing a cleaning liquid and having a filter integrated therein, and a feed device adapted to be driven by a motor and including a supply pipe leading to the cleaning basin. The cleaning device is characterized in that the exchangeable cleaning liquid container with the filter is arranged underneath the cleaning basin, that the cleaning liquid is adapted to be aspirated by the feed device from the cleaning liquid container through the inner chamber of the filter and to be passed by the feed device to the cleaning basin through a supply pipe, and that in a wall of the cleaning liquid container, an inlet port is provided admitting the cleaning liquid drained from an outlet port of the cleaning basin.
The cleaning device of the present invention affords a plurality of advantages. One significant advantage resides in that a fluid circuit optimal in its effect is accomplished by reason of the arrangement of the exchangeable cleaning liquid container with integrated filter underneath the cleaning basin and the subsequent connection of the feed device with the inner chamber of the filter on the one hand and, on the other hand, the further supply of aspirated filtered and hence purified liquid through a supply pipe to the cleaning basin, as well as due to the draining of the cleaning liquid from the cleaning basin into the cleaning liquid container. This fluid circuit ensures that the aggregate of the cleaning liquid is drained from the cleaning basin to the cleaning liquid container and, moreover, that the cleaning liquid present in the supply pipe returns to the cleaning liquid container through the feed device and the filter upon termination of the cleaning operation, that is, upon deactivation of the feed device. An essential advantage afforded by this backflow is that dirt particles collecting on the outer wall of the filter during the cleaning operation when cleaning liquid is drawn from the cleaning basin are dislodged from the filter wall by the pressure of the cleaning liquid flowing back, and are forced into the cleaning liquid container. The arrangement of the cleaning liquid container underneath the cleaning basin ensures that the filter""s surface invariably lies beneath the surface of the cleaning liquid in the cleaning liquid container. Any aspiration of air through the filter during operation of the cleaning device is thus positively precluded. The entire dirt resulting from a cleaning operation of a shaving head of a dry shaving apparatus is fed to, and remains in, the cleaning liquid container. Any accumulation of dirt particles at other locations in the cleaning device is entirely precluded. In consequence it is ensured that the feed device circulates exclusively purified cleaning liquid. The cleaning device as such affords low-cost manufacture because the entire cleaning operation is controlled by a single component only, meaning the feed device.
In an embodiment of the present invention the cleaning liquid container is insertable between a wall of the housing and the cleaning basin. In a preferred embodiment the feed device is adapted to be coupled with the filter by means of a pipe.
In a further aspect of this embodiment the pipe is configured as a plug-in tube adapted to be passed through a seal of the filter. This way of coupling the feed device with the inner chamber of the filter facilitates the coupling of a cleaning liquid container with the feed device materially.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention the outlet port of the cleaning basin is configured as a connector. To obtain a favorable flow of the cleaning liquid stream into the cleaning liquid container, provision is made for the inlet port to be configured as a funnel protruding into the inner chamber of the cleaning liquid container.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the filter is formed of a filter housing having at least two openings.
In a further aspect of this embodiment one opening serves the purpose of inserting and removing the feed device into and, respectively, from the inner chamber of the filter housing, while at least one further opening which is covered with a filter cloth is provided for passage of the cleaning liquid therethrough.
Preferably the filter cloth covering openings is attached to the filter housing and to struts provided on the filter housing.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention affording low-cost manufacture, the filter housing and the filter cloth are manufactured from an injection molding.
Preferably the feed device is a submersible pump insertable into the inner chamber of the filter. Still further, the pump elements of the submersible pump which has an inlet port and an outlet port are provided in a pump case closed by a case flange. A significant advantage afforded by this embodiment is that the motor for operating the submersible pump is securable to the case flange.
A simple, reliable and low-cost seal can be effected by conformably shaping the contour of the inner wall of the filter housing and the contour of the outer wall of the pump case.
In a further aspect of this embodiment, a gap formed by the relative distance of the inner wall to the outer wall is dimensioned in such manner as to enable a capillary sealing effect to be created.
An alternative embodiment of this invention is characterized in that the gap formed by the inner wall of the filter housing and the outer wall of the pump case is sealed by a sealing lip.
In a further aspect of this embodiment, the sealing lip is provided on the inner wall of the filter housing or on the outer wall of the pump case.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention the cleaning liquid container with the filter is arranged for to-and-fro movement parallel to the longitudinal axis of the feed device.
In an alternative embodiment of the present invention affording equally significant advantages, the submersible pump and the filter housing are disposed in the cleaning device for relative movement in a direction parallel to the longitudinal axis. Both embodiments ensure great ease of handling as regards the mounting and demounting of the cleaning liquid container with integrated filter on and from the case of the feed device.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention provision is made for the inside diameter of the inlet port to be greater than the inside diameter of the outlet port. For handling the cleaning liquid container, the inlet port and the inner chamber of the filter housing are adapted to be closed with a cover.
Further advantages and details of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent description and the accompanying drawings illustrating a preferred embodiment.